


As Rulers Stain Red

by stevebuckysexual (destieldemon)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, And also smut eventually, He takes Steve with him, In a sense, Instead of Bucky leaving Steve on the waterbank, It's canon with most of the movie up until the end, M/M, Multi, Not at the beginning, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Romance, Sorry Not Sorry, Thriller
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-06
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-14 05:08:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2179080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destieldemon/pseuds/stevebuckysexual
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the fall of H.Y.D.R.A. and the dual disappearance of The Winter Soldier and Captain America, Nicholas J. Fury rounds up the rest of the Avengers in order to track the two supersoldiers down. With no leads, clues, or trail, the task borders on impossible.</p><p>In the meantime, during the wake of a sudden onset of high-profile political assassinations spanning across the globe, governmental secrets and crimes are being revealed, which spark uprisings and revolutionary rebellions in the people and signal the beginning of the end for some of the world's most powerful international empires. S.H.I.E.L.D. teams up with other organizations located in Europe, Africa, and South America to uncover who or what is behind it all, and how they've come to know some of the planet's darkest secrets.</p><p>All Nicholas J. Fury wanted to do was keep the two cases separate, and get them done one at a time, nice and clean. He had no idea just how heavily they intertwine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. On the Blood of the Silenced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The killer takes a new victim. Fury almost wishes it'd been himself.

If you asked Nicholas J. Fury when it all began, he wouldn't be able to give you a direct answer. Maybe it started when both Captain America and The Winter Soldier disappeared suddenly, after the fiery crash of a helicarrier and a deadly descent towards an ocean. Maybe it was when Captain America had learned that his best friend had been captured by HYDRA and brainwashed into a weapon. Maybe it was when he woke up in a new world. Then again, it's just as possible that it could've been back in 1943, after he'd been pumped chock-full of a mysterious serum while strapped down in a lab. Or before then. The day Steven Grant Rogers met James Buchanan Barnes, Fury reckons. That could be where it all began. In reality, no matter what perspective you use to look at it, there really is no actual beginning. This is what Fury thinks about the most. If there was hardly a beginning, he doesn't know how to expect an ending. He doesn't know if he'll get one on this.

He stands in front of a computer monitor, taller than him by a few feet and wider than him by a few more, his gaze skimming over a map of green and black for the millionth time in the past week. There are dots all along the screen, lit up green and blipping softly in order to gain the attention of whoever's taken interest in the scene. The room around him is dark, the only light coming from a metal door cracked open on his far left and the neon color of the large screen illuminating the space gently.

He slides out of his inner reverie when more light comes in, due to the door opening further.

"Sir?" Maria Hill says curtly.

Fury looks sideways to her. "Yes, Agent Hill?"

"There's-" she cuts herself off, breathes in. "there's been another hit."

He doesn't let any new emotion show on his face, no raising of his eyebrows or downward tilt of lips. He nods impassively, but that's the extent of it. It's not as if he's surprised by the news, anyways.

"Location?" He asks.

She frowns. "Ukraine. It was in the Ukraine, this time."

His expression slips a little at that, his lips twitching. The first hit had been over in Russia- the death of a Prime Minister, he recalls, and the information released to the public was that he'd died of suicide. It was far from the truth, but there had previously been rumors of his being replaced, so most of the general public of Russia had bought it. A few others questioned, as few others of every country occasionally tend to do, but no one listened to them- in the beginning. In the days following the brutal assassination- preformed by a person or persons unknown- sensitive governmental information had begun to leak out. It was a shock, absolutely, to many people, but not as big of a shock as it would've been if HYDRA hadn't been taken down and revealed just prior. The information spoke of just how heavily entangled HYDRA had been with the Russian government; how the people in power had not only let HYDRA continue with their work but also aided them in it. Many citizens died in the process; murdered and having their deaths covered up and hidden as something else. This sparked heavy, violent riots across the large country, starting in it's capital, Moscow, and spreading through the streets like blood through veins. It didn't take long before many of the people in government positions had to flee, and not into thin air- SHIELD had them trailed; followed- and in their haste to leave they hardly bothered to cover their tracks. It was a long trail to follow, sure, but not a difficult one. A few ended up across Italy to Denmark to Greenland, and even fewer heading into Africa or South America. The majority had ended up in the Ukraine, right next to their home country. They were so close, and Fury didn't know if he should call them stupid or smart for that.

The surprising thing about this, Fury notes, isn't that this new killer, shadow, terrorist-  _can we call them a terrorist? They've helped the people, have they not, ridding them of a corrupt leader?_ \- had brought their newest hit to a place with these cowardly runners, but to a place that, if they were going to hit in the first place, why not do it sooner? They'd been right next to the Ukraine in the beginning- so why do it now?

"Any deaths?" He says.

"Two. Pavlo Kolesnik and Viktor Rudenko, both high-profile members of the Svoboda party in the Cabinet of Ukraine."

He sighs. "Cause of deaths?"

She pauses, swallowing. "It's strange, sir-" she hesitates. "the deaths were at least 12 hours apart."

Fury squints. "12 hours? This killer doesn't-"

"-ever stay in one place for that extent of time, I know. But they waited in-between killing off these guys."

"And is there a known reason for that, Agent Hill?"

She shrugs. "It's possible that they didn't have an opportunity to kill the second one sooner. It might also involve something about him representing the Ukraine's MOF- they've apparently been revising some possible changes to their routines of financial monitoring and inspection, and they were holding a meeting prior to Kolesnik's death. They've been gradually getting more unforthcoming since the beginning of Russia's riots."

Fury nods. "Understandable. Any new information out regarding it?"

She shakes her head. "Not quite yet. We're on standby. We don't know when it will begin."

"It usually begins within the first 24 hours after the killings, doesn't it?"

"Yes, it does," she says. "but we're currently unsure if it will be in the 24 hours after the first death or the second death."

He grunts. He hadn't considered that. His jaw clenches. "You didn't answer my question, from before."

Her brows furrow. "What question, sir? You'll have to remind me."

He looks at her. "How did they die?" he asks.

She pauses. "The first, Viktor Rudenko, was killed with a bullet to the temple. Close range, so the killer somehow gained access into the Government Building. The second..." she trails off, her gaze falling down slightly and going distant. "They said Pavlo Kolesnik was found-" she inhales. "they said he was found with his throat ripped out, sir."

Fury makes a soft sound of surprise. "Not the killer's usual method."

"Too sloppy." She agrees, looking back up again. "We don't know why they killed him the way they did. Maybe they'd run out of time- as you said before, they don't like in staying in one place for long."

He hums. "And is the hit being logged into our database?"

"They've already done it," she says nodding to the screen.

He follows the movement, looking at the screen again, and there, in the space of western Ukraine, is a new green dot.

"Must've just put it in," he remarks, partially to himself.

"They were just logging it in when I left to make sure you were informed."

He continues to watch the dot, seeing it calmly blip in and out of existence, every time it returns little waves of green falling from it and fading about an inch away. He sighs.

"Is that all, Agent Hill?" He turns to look at her again, and her face is grave and stoic as the eerie green light shines over half of it. He knows right then that he'll never be able to get that image out of his mind. He's seen many things before, including life and death and all of the small stages in-between, but here, in the wake of this revolutionary storm, he knows that every moment of this mission will be glued into his mind from this moment forward, until the day he dies. A day that, he's beginning to learn, might come sooner than he's been expecting.

"Yes, sir," she says, voice softer now. "for now."

His stomach twists at the implication of those last two words, the foretelling of how there's more to come- but he knew that anyways, even if he can hardly stand to be reminded.

He nods now, slow. "Thank you, Hill."

She doesn't verbally reply, just nods curtly and then turns to make her way out of the room. The door doesn't shut behind her, kept from closing all the way by a door-stopper, and the conversation feels incomplete without the abrupt sound of a door slamming or guns firing, and he sighs.

Then again, nothing at all really feels complete around here anymore. He's beginning to think he should start getting used to it.

 

 


	2. Of the Dawn of the Deceased

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha gets a call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter is calmer, more of the 'calm before the storm' instead of jumping right into the action. It was a lot of fun to write though. Hope you enjoy.

The Sun is high up, its light pouring through the windows of the Avenger's tower when Natasha gets the call.

And honestly, she isn't fond of phones. Always feels like someone else is listening in; someone else knows your words. An extra person who you might not know knowing your voice, and what you have to say- she hates it, to say the least.

So she feels a wave of annoyance roll through her as she hears it ring from the other side of the room, open with a light color palette consisting of shades of white and beige. The beginning lines of ACDC's 'Back In Black' fill the previously silent place, and she senses a small amount of amusement in the mess of exasperation at the music.

She walks over and picks up the phone with the words _'Damn you, Stark'_ running across her mind.

Before she's able to ask who it is, and _why are you bothering me?_ \- a voice cuts her off.

"Romanoff."

She huffs, smiling softly. "Fury. Is there a reason for your call?"

"There's been another hit." He says.

She freezes, and it takes a few moments for her to reply. "Where?" She asks, her voice harder.

Fury sighs. "Ukraine."

Natasha's brow furrows. "Ukraine? What would they be d-"

"I don't know. Agent Hill told me that it could have something to do with the Ukraine's MOF, but we're still unsure. We're on standby for the information."

She hums. "When did the victim die?"

"Victims," Fury corrects. "and they died around 12 hours apart."

"12? But-"

"I know, the killer usually doesn't-"

"Okay, if you keep cutting me off, I will cut your hands off." She says, right has a door opens behind her.

"Uh-" Barton says, halfway through the entryway. "I'm... guessing this is a bad time?"

She looks over her shoulder, sighing lightly at the amusement etched across his face.

It disappears when she tells him, "There's been another hit."

He stops moving. "Where?"

She sighs again, heavier this time. "Ukraine."

Barton pauses before nodding. "We should round up the guys then, huh?"

"No," Fury says. Natasha puts him on speaker, walks over to Barton. She leans against a table, her forearms pressing into the light wood. "your focus isn't on this. Whatever's happening isn't up to us to stop, and certainly not you."

" _You're_ focusing on it- a lot." Barton says.

"Because I need to know if this person-"

"-or persons-" Natasha says.

"-is a threat to us. There's no way of being sure with the evidence we have at this point. I'm not trying to take this person down, I'm trying to discover them."

"We should still let the other guys know." Barton looks at Natasha. "They'll want to know."

"It doesn't matter if Fury wants us to or not, we're still telling them."

"I can _hear_ you." Fury says, exasperated.

"Good. Then you know that they'll know." She replies.

Fury huffs, before pausing. "And what of our Captain America situation?"

Natasha presses her lips together. "Nothing new." She says quietly.

Barton looks at her, and puts his hand on her forearm, comforting. She smiles softly at him, even if she still doesn't feel much better.

"Alright," Fury says. "alright. We'll figure it out. For now, I'm needed elsewhere. We're all still standing by."

Natasha hums. "'Kay," she mumbles, and Fury hangs up before Barton can add anything.

He looks up at Natasha. "Standing by for what?"

"The leaked info."

"It hasn't come yet?"

"No. Apparently the deaths are really recent, but they were 12 hours apart."

"12?"

"Yeah," she sighs. "12."

He raises his eyebrows, but lets the subject drop after that.

Natasha looks up at the ceiling. "Jarvis?"

"Yes, Master Romanoff?"

"Tell all of the others to meet on Tony's floor. We have things we need to discuss."

"Affirmative. I will make sure they are there shortly."

She exhales, looks down to Barton. He smiles softly at her.

"Thanks," she says, and she's not entirely sure who she's saying it to.

 

* * *

 

When they all make their way, they stand in Tony's floor, in an open space where a resting room and small kitchen are connected. Light comes in from the far right wall. The room is almost exactly like the one Natasha had previously been in, only with more diverse colors and a larger group of superheroes lounging in it. They look at Natasha, and she informs them of the newest hit. She goes to speak further, before Tony cuts her off with-

"So- wait," he says. "just how many times has this guy done this again?"

"This is approximately the 8th time." Natasha says, leaning against the counter.

"8th time that we know of," Bruce adds in, sitting on a stool next to her.

"Yes," she agrees. "that we know of."

"Okay, and just why did this psycho dude decide to kill these two guys?" Tony asks, putting coffee on. "Did they steal his boyfriend or something?"

"No," Natasha says. "that's not it, Stark. And don't assume this person-"

"-or persons-" Bruce adds.

"-isn't a woman. Or hell, maybe even a non-binary. Point is, we don't actually know anything about them, so-"

"So no assumptions. Fine. Didn't answer my question though."

Natasha sighs. "We don't actually know why they killed them."

"So the theory that they stole this person's boyfriend is still in play?"

Natasha rolls her eyes. "Look, Stark-"

Tony's posture drops. "Okay, I know. I know that this is a serious situation, and we're supposed to be all stoic, and serious, and boring- but really, what fun would that be? We need a little humor in times like this. Look, even Thor is committing. Look at his hair!"

"Darcy had approached me with a heated sword and asked to 'do my hair'," Thor says, pushing curls out of his face, sitting on the couch. "I hadn't a clue what consenting would entail."

Tony smiles. " _See?_ "

 _If only looks could kill_ , she thinks, glaring at him. "Jokes won't help us find Captain America-"

"-or The Winter Soldier-" Bruce cuts in, _again._

"-so I really do not see the point of it. We need to be focused on this, Tony. I know you and Steve have had your differences, but you're fond of him-" Tony goes to interrupt, and she goes on. "-whether you want to admit it or not."

Darcy, not an Avenger but still there, pipes up. "And you've stared at his butt one too many times for you to really hate him anyways!"

Tony looks at her, smiling sarcastically. "Yeah, thanks for pointing that out." Natasha raises an eyebrow at him. He scoffs. "So- what, it's illegal to enjoy a nice, juicy view of a national treasure? I've seen guys pass by the Statue of Liberty and-"

"-yeah, don't finish that sentence." Barton interrupts, leaning back against a wall.

Natasha huffs. "Point is, we have more important things to focus on. We need to find them, and we need to find them as fast as possible."

"Cap's a big boy," Tony says, sipping on a cup of coffee. "I'm sure he can handle himself."

"Against the Winter Soldier?" Barton asks, skeptical.

"They're probably butt buddies by now!" He says.

Bruce raises his eyebrows, and Tony goes on. "Not that I'm jealous or anything- and, okay- I'll admit that I was concerned right after he first disappeared, but I'm sure he's fine. These guys used to be, like, best friends. Not that I know how Cap ever had any friends-" Natasha slaps him upside of the head, quick enough that he doesn't see it coming. "-and okay, _ow_ , thank you for your contribution, _Black Widow_ ," she smiles. "but you're not helping."

 _"You're_ not helping! That's what I've been _saying._ "

"I'm helping tons." He hands her a mug of coffee. "See? There. I've contributed."

"That's not-"

"Okay, give me _one_ good reason why I should listen to this right now-"

"Well, SHIELD is bringing in extra agents-" they all look at Bruce, and he continues, looking at Stark then around at the rest of them. "because they need all the manpower they can get on the Global assignment. This case isn't top priority anymore. World security comes before Captain America, you know. If Steve's in trouble, we're practically his last hope. If there's _any_ chance that he's in trouble," he looks at Natasha, determined. "then I'm in."

She nods, smiling softly. "Thank you, Bruce," she says quietly.

He smiles back.

"Wait," Tony says. "extra agents? From where?"

"Not from SHIELD." Natasha says.

"Wait, what?" Barton says. "I thought the new manpower was just extra recent recruits."

"No, it's not." Bruce says. "They're from three different organizations, from other continents."

"Which continents?" Tony asks.

"Africa, South America, and Europe. Mainly Europe, because a majority of the hits have been there, like the last two."

"Why haven't I heard about this? How do _you_ guys know?"

Bruce coughs. "I, uh- I hacked into their system. I thought something fishy was going on, since neither Fury or anyone else kept us very up-to-date with the situation, so I wanted to see for myself." He shrugs. "It was all there."

Tony pauses, eyebrows raised. " _Okay,_ " he looks at Natasha. "and you?"

She shrugs. "Fury told me."

Barton squints. "So he only told you? Why not the rest of us?"

She sighs. "Maybe he assumed that I would tell you all."

"Yeah, okay- why _didn't_ you tell us all?" Tony asks.

"I didn't see the need."

"Th- _the need_?"

"Yes, none of you needed to know."

"Well, maybe, but don't you think we would've at least _liked_ to know?"

"Okay, just-" Barton interrupts. "What organizations are we talking about here?"

Bruce looks up. "ARROW, VOULGE, and SWARM."

"Really, _SWARM_?" Tony asks.

"What's wrong with SWARM?" Barton replies.

Tony looks over his shoulder at him. "Why would they decide that that's a good name?"

Natasha rolls her eyes. "It stands for the South-West's Armed Regulation Militia."

"Southwest?" Tony asks, turning back.

"South America is in the Southwest hemisphere. So yes, South-West's."

Barton speaks again. "Why not just keep it as Southwest then, instead of making it two words?"

She shrugs. "Guess they wanted a cool acronym."

"SWARM isn't a cool acronym," Tony says. "it reminds me of bees. I hate bees."

"You hate all bugs," Natasha mumbles.

" _Especially_ black widows."

Natasha smiles into her cup of coffee.

Darcy, currently taking pictures of Thor and his wild curls on her phone, looks up from her seat on the sofa. "What do the others mean?"

Bruce speaks up. "ARROW means Africa's Ruler Regulation and Outreach Window, and VOULGE is the Voluntary Outreach and Logistics Group of Europe."

"Why are all the names so shitty?" Tony mumbles, leaning against the countertop.

Natasha throws him a look. "We're SHIELD."

He sighs. " _Whatever._ "

They settle into a small silence, mulling over the new information. The only sound in the room is the soft whirring of the air conditioner and the snaps from Darcy's phone as she continues to take pictures. Tony sighs.

"Fine. Fine! I'm in too. Just- don't be all-" He motions to them all. "moody and mysterious. _Especially_ you." He points at Natasha.

She smiles. "Aw, Stark, do I intimidate you?"

"No, of course not, jus-"

"Aw, I think you do, Nat-" Barton says.

"That's _not what I said_ ," Tony goes on. "and if you want me to help you so bad on this, why are you teasing me? This isn't extra incentive to get me to help you guys out on your little scavenger hunt."

"You've already agreed. No take backs." Natasha says, pushing away from the counter.

"Mature, Romanoff." Tony says.

"And you're the maturity police?" Barton speaks, smiling. "Seems awfully hypocritical."

"Oh, _haha_ ," Tony replies sarcastically. "you know what? Let's all just give up on being Avengers. Let's _all_ be comedians instead!"

"I've been taught many ancient stories that would cause many to laugh," Thor says as Darcy pulls at a curl. "for example, on the great planes of Asgard, there was an expansive horde of Bilgesnipe-"

Needless to say, the rest of the joke goes on to describe things that Natasha- or anyone else for that matter, if their slightly vacant expressions are anything to go by- has no clue of, and she slips out of the room unnoticed.

She has other things to prepare for, anyways.

 

 


	3. As the Night Breaks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Information leaks out, and so does Fury's sanity. The Avengers get some news they would've rather not heard.

 

"Fury, sir-"

"Yes, Agent Hill?" He asks, glancing up briefly from the documents in front of him.

She inhales, and nods curtly. "It's begun."

He looks up fully then, and stands. As they step out of his office and into the chaotic hallway, full of agents running back and forth, he speaks. "What do we have so far?"

"Virtual copies of governmental documents-"

"Yes Agent Hill, I've got that; what are the documents _about_?"

"Sir, I'm sure you're up-to-date with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine involving the Crimea Peninsula. Apparently, Russia was using it as a base for HYDRA before, with the permission of a few members in the Cabinet- including Pavlo Kolesnik and Viktor Rudenko. Russia was discovered though, by a few of the others- it's apparently what was the actual start of the conflict before Russia went in and started to incorporate Crimea into Russia instead of just leaving the territory."

"So Russia wanted to keep up their practices on Ukrainian land." Fury says as they step into an elevator.

"Exactly-"

"I don't see how this shows Ukraine in a bad light. They have to be guilty of something for them to be targeted."

"And they are," she says. "they were getting ready to attack Russia while it's at it's weakest, with the help of the refugee Russian leaders, who'd been convinced that they'd get their power back once Ukraine succeeded. They were planning on abducting certain people of the population and attempting to give them a substitute of the supersoldier serum and then brainwashing them, similar to the Winter Soldier."

"And had they tried to copy the Winter Soldier project before?" Fury questions as they step into a large briefing room, where people sit at computers and a large monitor stands overheard, with neon-green words being displayed against a black backdrop at lightning speed. A few people run about in the background, and more people stand, hypnotized, reading the words that show up on the large screen. Voices fill the large room, sounds going at a quick pace.

"Yes, actually," Hill says. "they'd described an experiment on one Farrow Marie Huxler, a 19-year-old British tourist who'd gone missing after her landing in Lviv."

"When was this?"

She pauses. "That's the thing, sir. Almost all of the information on her was erased after two weeks into the project, which begun directly after HYDRA fell. It doesn't tell us what happened to her. It just- cuts off."

He looks at her. "So we don't know if she's currently alive?"

Hill shakes her head. "We've put out an APB with ARROW, VOULGE, and SWARM, and sent notices out to the countries surrounding Ukraine. VOULGE should be getting back to us within the next few minutes; they're currently looking through their database for Huxler's information."

Fury hums. He watches the words come up on screen, a small peace settling in him for the first time in a long while. He smiles softly, and it's barely visible. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Agent?"

She looks away from the screen, over to him. "That if she's alive, we've officially found our first suspect as to who started all of this?"

"Yes, Agent Hill," he nods. "exactly."

He looks to the screen. He can feel the satisfaction with these new pieces of information; can tell that it will almost definitely amount to more. He knows he said that he doesn't intend to harm the killer, doesn't intend to bring them down, but they've caused him too much grief in these past few weeks for them to go unpunished. It's something that he isn't sure he should focus on, the practically certain possibility of a new chase- a _hunt_ , he'll call it what it really is- when faced with the option to choose peace over vengeance. Two different emotions on two ends of a spectrum, both dangerous in their own little ways. 

But peace was never something he was used to. It wasn't something he had ever trusted. He wasn't going to let that change now.

So he picks brutality, and begins to come up with a plan of attack.

He's been wanting this for a long time.

 

* * *

 

"And what of the others?" Natasha asks.

Fury tears his gaze away from the darkening cityscape, the sun sinking on the horizon, the civilians on the ground. He looks at her. "What others?"

"The other members of the Cabinet of Ukraine," she clarifies. "it was said that not all of them had been involved. At least, that's my understanding."

She sits on a black leather chair in front of his desk. Her gaze is assertive but curious, like a lioness wondering whether or not she should kill you now or have fun with you first. Fury looks back out the large window, the skies now burning into gold.

"We're tracking them."

"And where are they headed to?"

He sighs. "Away," he states simply.

She hums. He can feel her gaze on his back, assessing him, and he takes a quick moment to really think about who she is. She's a warrior, that much is true. You could call her a soldier if you really felt the need to. A killer. But most of all she was Natalia Romanova, without any labels or words beyond it. There was never any true title he could pin on her. If he was being honest with himself, he could call that terrifying.

He was never one for honesty over survival. Red bleeds into the clouds.

"And this Farrow Marie Huxler, what of her?" Natalia asks.

"Farrow Marie Huxler- 19 years old, date-of-birth March 15, 1995, African/Irish descent, black, female, brown eyes, black hair, decided to go onto a trip, plane left on April 7th, 2014, and she disappeared almost immediately after landing." He looks over to Natalia again. "There had been no clue of her whereabouts- until today."

She sinks back into her chair, somehow making no noise. "So we know her current whereabouts?"

Fury blinks. Looks down. "Not quite. We know where she went after she went missing, but nothing beyond that. We have agents currently on their way into the Ukraine with some operatives from VOULGE to see if she's still there."

Natalia's eyes pierce through him. She leans on her right arm, settled onto the armrest. "But you don't think she will be."

Fury grunts. "No," he says. "I do not. I believe that she survived, and hightailed it out of there."

"What makes you so sure she survived?"

"Why else would they delete all of the information?" He questions. "It had to be because they failed to contain her."

"I can see them failing, but to contain her? It could've just as easily been that they failed in the way of accidentally killing her, rendering whatever serum substitute they could come up with void."

"But then why delete the data?" He looks to her. "They would want to keep track of their mistakes, in order to make sure they don't make the same ones again."

Natalia's brow furrows. "That's true, I suppose. Still, it doesn't guarantee that she survived whatever they did to her."

"No, it doesn't," he agrees. "but if you can't call this logic, call it instinct. She's alive, Romanova- and she's the way to get to the bottom of this."

Natalia cocks her head; smiles softly. Patronizingly. "Maybe so. Even if she's alive, Nick," she says quietly. "what makes you expect that you can contain her?"

He sighs. She has a point. He doesn't like it.

"I don't know," he responds. Something in his admission is a little too real, a little too _human_ \- and he finds that he hates it, but something in Natalia's gaze becomes a little warmer with it. He breathes. "I don't know."

 

* * *

 

When she returns to the group, they're annoyingly impatient for the news. She knows they won't be happy with it. She tells them anyways.

They all sit together, remaining quiet for a moment further until Barton breaks the silence. "How old?"

"Hmm?" Natasha hums, looking up.

"How old was- _is_ she?"

She pauses. "19," she replies.

He sits back. "That's too young," he mumbles.

She looks at him. "I was younger."

He looks up, sees her, blinks, and doesn't respond. Looking slightly shamefaced, he glances away. Deep down, Natasha agrees. It's too young. Far too young, but it's happened to younger ones. Besides, she's not here to pity the girl. Apparently, she's not here to find her either, due to Fury's insistence that the Avengers continue to focus solely on finding Captain America and his Russian sidekick. She remembers him- The Winter Soldier. She tries not to.

"We're not allowed to look for her." She says instead.

Tony scoffs. "Cause then Fury would throw a tantrum, right?"

She smiles softly, not full of happiness, but she agrees. "Exactly. He also really wants to bring the Winter Soldier in. He'd be an excellent asset, even if he'd have to deal with Steve having a tantrum of his own over it."

Thor hums. "This… Soldier of Winter- is he Steve's beloved?"

Barton speaks up first. "Nah, they're just best friends. Have been since they were kids, like, a million years ago."

Tony grunts. "Not so sure. Could be. I've got a pretty strong gaydar, and Cap is _not_ straight."

Barton looks at Natasha, expecting her to argue, and after a moment the others do the same. She shrugs. "Never thought I'd actually agree with you on something, Stark."

"Ha! See? She's like, a master of observation from doing spy stuff, so _obviously_ , there's no way we're wrong here." Tony brags.

"You're still an idiot," Barton mumbles.

"I heard that!"

"Maybe you were meant to." Barton chuckles.

Tony huffs. "I don't have to listen to this. I'm a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist-"

Barton coughs out, "- _idiot-_ "

"-and I'm the one with the most fans." He pauses, considering. "I'll turn my fans on you all, you know. Make an army." He looks at Barton. "Sounds like fun, right?"

Barton smiles, slightly predatory. "Incredibly."

Thor huffs something about humans being 'petty', and they've all heard it before, so they glide over it. Natasha watches as Tony begins to tell his ingenious plans to use his fans to become 'Supreme Ruler' of the Avengers, while Thor sits not far, asking Tony to explain what 'fangirling' means. Bruce sits contentedly on the floor by her chair, tinkering with some scientific gadget that, knowing how close Bruce and Tony are, is probably being made to help Tony with said World-Takeover. She smiles at the scene, and relaxes further into her chair. She knows that this all won't last forever, that this is just the calm before the storm- but maybe they're already in the eye of the hurricane, maybe they're already halfway through, _'maybe we'll all be okay'_ \- she sighs.

Maybe this is only the eye of the storm. Even with that, she knows that the other side of it will be much bloodier and deadly than it has been before. She's never been afraid of much. She doesn't like the feeling now.

 


End file.
